War Room: Manoeuvres: Remnants

"They repair themselves from the surroundings."

Writer: Georgia Cook

Format: Audio

Released: September 2023

Series: Gallifrey 14.02

Featuring: General, Rasmus, Veklin

Synopsis

A distress call from a Gallifreyan outpost brings the General, Rasmus and Veklin into contact with weapons of the Time War from both sides. Trapped, young Time Lord Cresta fights for her life against a relentless foe.

Verdict

Remnants was another great episode to continue my way through the Manoeuvres fourteenth series of Gallifrey and second instalment of the War Room! This was a little different from what I was expecting as the episode focused away from the core characters of Narvin and Leela, but that was no issue at all as we got into some juicy Time War action. I thought the trio of the General, Rasmus and Veklin really did a strong job in carrying the episode and I liked how this was very much a story for the War Room. A clear objective in hand with a good familial connection that was exploited. It certainly ticked a lot of boxes in my opinion. I was delighted that the episode featured the Daleks as ever since Gallifrey ventured into the Time War for its ninth series and onwards, I don’t think we’ve had enough of them! They’re literally the opponents in war so it makes sense that they should be a regular if not permanent feature. The garbled message coming from Cresta was good and I liked how the General was hiding the fact he was her uncle. She didn’t exactly do a stellar job in keeping it hidden that she was his niece with how many times she referred to him as uncle, but it was excellent for Rasmus to exploit! He’s out to gain an advantage and I can appreciate that. He knows the value of having something on someone in the position and rank of the General. I thought the reminder of the General’s changing gender was a nice touch and a good foreshadowing of what would happen to him during Hell Bent. I wonder if Cresta would announce her as her auntie so freely still! I thought the presence of a Berserker Dalek was intriguing and I like the mythical status behind them. At one point they were just myth but then they weren’t. That’s such a simple explanation but given the scale of the Time War, that kind of thing can happen. The concept of them using the materials around them to repair themselves is excellent and I love the fear that comes from a Dalek that is basically always on the mend. It’s also exciting for the scale of the destruction because the Daleks in general are bad enough but this particular class are all about wiping things out and quickly on a grandiose scale. That’s deadly! I thought the science division being recognised on the Dalek saucer was impressive and those that were left to research were quite saddened by the fact the Time Lords weren’t coming to rescue them. They were only after the resources of the Bezerker Dalek. The use of the inhibitors to stop them was good and I loved the simplicity of their original use to be preserve food. So the organic systems within the Dalek were frozen and it became quite an effective weapon! Teblin was a pretty unlikeable character but I couldn’t blame his stance towards the War Room. He’d dreamt of climbing the ranks to serve in the War but after seeing it in action he wasn’t pleased. His actions in wiping out the Dalek saucer was literally an explosive ending as they disintegrated into nothing, but he wanted his name to go down in history. The first Time Lord to wipe out a Berserker! You couldn’t disagree with the history. Overall, a strong episode to continue the series! I sense we may now have a Resistance focused episode before the finale. 

Rating: 8/10